GMAT Essays (AWA)

The following appeared in an announcement issued by the publisher of The
Mercury, a weekly newspaper.

“Since a competing lower-priced newspaper, The Bugle, was started five years ago,

The Mercury’s circulation has declined by 10,000 readers. The best way to get more people to read The Mercury is to reduce its price below that of The Bugle, at least until circulation increases to former levels. The increased circulation of The Mercury will attract more businesses to buy advertising space in the paper.”

Discuss how well reasoned... etc.


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The publisher of Mercury suggested that, to increase the circulation of Mercury they should reduce it's price . The suggestion is based on the fact that after introduction of a lower-priced news paper Bugle , the Mercury's circulation has declined by 10000 readers . Also the publisher goes on saying that the increased circulation of Mercury will attract more business to buy advertising space in Mercury . In making above suggestions, the publisher failed to consider some of the cases. So the argument has many flaws as mentioned below .

First, the publisher has failed to establish a causal connection between fall in circulation of Mercury and introduction of lower priced paper Bugle .Just because the fall in circulation of Mercury and introduction of Buggle coincides with each other, this does not necessarily mean that the later is the cause for former .
Moreover, perhaps there are other factors relevent to fall in Mercury circulation ; for instance, the quality of news that the Mercury provides might have decreased or a lot of library might have been opened which caters the need of news paper reader, hence reducing circulation .

Second, the publisher has not provided any statistical data or proof which can supprt his point . There is no evidence of actual price difference between the two papers. If the price difference is negligible then the price can't be a factor for decrease in circulation .

Finally, the publisher has assumed that decrease in price is going to increase in the number of circulation. But, we can't asume some thing like that till we are sure about the reason for decrease in price of the news paper. The publisher's argument is solely based on the assumption that price is one and only factor which is responsible for the number of circulations


In conclusion, this is a week argument with many flaws. The argument can be made stronger if the author can proove that the reason for decrease in circulation of Mercury is solely the higher price. If the number of circulation increases , definitely the paper will attract more business to buy advertising space .

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